During the tumultuous years leading up to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Christian and Tamanend Maier, two brothers from rural Pennsylvania, pursue their goals to become physicians. Different in many ways, they take different paths and face diverse challenges in their quests to become ‘doctors of physick.’ Much of The Patriot Surgeon: Coming of Age is set in colonial Philadelphia and Boston, amid the panoply of well known historical figures and turmoil of political discontent. We follow the two young men as they endure the grueling hours their training requires, revel in their accomplishments and agonize with the sufferings of their patients. They at last reunite in the outskirts of Boston during the days leading up to the deadly fighting that would become known as The Battle of Bunker Hill. On that horrific day of battle, their skills and talents would be needed for the men who fell and the country they loved.

The only full biography of Benjamin Rush, an extraordinary Founding Father and America's leading physician of the Colonial era While Benjamin Rush appears often and meaningfully in biographies about John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, this legendary man is presented as little more than a historical footnote. Yet, he was a propelling force in what culminated in the Declaration of Independence, of which he was a signer. Rush was an early agitator for independence, a member of the First Continental Congress, and one of the leading surgeons of the Continental Army during the early phase of the Revolutionary War. He was a constant and indefatigable adviser to the foremost figures of the American Revolution, notably George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. Even if he had not played a major role in our country's creation, Rush would have left his mark in history as an eminent physician and a foremost social reformer in such areas as medical teaching, treatment of the mentally ill (he is considered the Father of American Psychiatry), international prevention of yellow fever, establishment of public schools, implementation of improved education for women, and much more. For readers of well-written biographies, Brodsky has illuminated the life of one of America's great and overlooked revolutionaries.

During the spring of 1775, tensions and tempers boiled over and armed conflict erupted between the American colonists and the military forces of their mother country, England. As 1776 looms on the horizon, General George Washington, commander of the American forces, finds himself in a stalemate. He has 6,000 British soldiers throttled in the city of Boston and yearns to pick a fight. His plan, along with Congress, is to force the British Parliament to address the complaints and demands of the colonists. The Crown and Parliament would do so, but not in the fashion that he and his fellow patriots expected. 1776 would prove to be a tumultuous and monumental year for the young United States. King George III has now viciously turned against the colonists and solicited the assistance of auxiliary troops from Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Hanau and other German principalities. Diplomacy has produced no results at reconciliation and a war for independence emerges as their only option. In July, Congress declares the colonies independent and generates a list of grievances for all the world to read. Armed conflict would escalate throughout the summer resulting in a string of battlefield successes for the British. Defeat, disease and desertion would continue to decimate Washington's army, prospects for independence and the spirits of the young nation. As the year nears its end, so too does Washington's army and the revolution for which they are fighting. Christian Maier, still providing assistance to the British army in Canada, must confront professional and domestic hardships to survive the winter and return to his home in Pennsylvania. Tammany Maier must endure the continuing military and medical hardships in Canada before returning to General Washington to help keep the revolution alive. George Washington must learn from his army's many failures, overcome the lack of support of his trusted compatriots and somehow cobble together a formula that will allow the revolution to continue beyond year's end.

Following the Battle of Bunker Hill in early July of 1775, George Washington takes command of the seventeen thousand men who lay siege to the city of Boston, where General Thomas Gage and his four thousand regular army troops valiantly hold out. Parliament and representatives of Great Britain no longer listen to the complaints and requests of the colonials and decline to negotiate the issues. Like his fellow members of Congress, Washington is committed to an early end of the conflict. Washington determines that, by improving the negotiating position of the American colonists, Great Britain will accede to the demands of Congress. Many in the province of Canada are similarly oppressed and disenfranchised by Parliament. With the approval of Congress, Washington devises a plan to expel the British army from the forts at Montreal and Quebec and align with Canada, making Canada the fourteenth American colony. As the Northern army proceeds up the Hudson Valley to attack Montreal, Washington appoints Colonel Benedict Arnold to lead a secret mission of 1,200 men through the wilderness of Maine to attack the undermanned and vulnerable fortress at Quebec. Dr. Tamanend Maier, now on General Washingtons administrative staff, works with Benedict Arnold to plan the expedition and will accompany him to Quebec. His brother, Dr. Christian Maier, is now in Boston. He remains loyal to his king and serves as a volunteer surgeon in the beleaguered British army. General Gage is informed of the secret expedition to Quebec and sends Christian to Quebec with the information necessary to save the fortress city.

Bland came to NSW as a convict in 1814 after killing a fellow naval officer in a duel. Four decades later he was feted as the Venerable patriot of Australia at the celebration of the inauguration of responsible government. recognition of, among other services, his work with W.C. Wentworth in securing the colony's first elective legislature.

The life of this prominent female doctor mirrored many of the changes in Irish life between 1874 and 1955. She was vice president of Sinn Fein as well as a TD between 1923 and 1927 and her career as a politician is discussed. She established St Ultan's Hospital for Infants in 1919 and her work in the hospital provides a way of analysing medical politics during a public health revolution in mid twentieth century Ireland. Kathleen Lynn is remembered as a doctor who did her utmost for the poor of Dublin. Her biography deals with a wide range of issues including: suffragism, education, sectarian politics, maternal feminism, ecclesiastical subterfuge, public health, spirituality, ecumenism, the medical profession and social housing. She is an important figure in international women's affairs as she was to the forefront in new medical practices in Ireland.